Poland - a country of packed churches; a country where millions enthusiastically welcome the Pope; a country with a ban on virtually all abortions and with restrictions on prenatal tests; a country in which the Church claims the right to be involved in legislative processes about laws concerning neither the Church nor religion; a country in which the Church would like to tell scientists what should and what should not be a subject of their research; where the Church was prepared to set Poland at variance with the EU in order to get God's name into the European constitution.

In this country we are trying to promote rational thinking - RACJONALISTA.pl is currently the biggest center for publicizing free-thinkers and rationalists in Poland. More and more experts from different fields are contributing to our website. Since the website was established four years ago about 200 authors - both Polish and foreign - have published with us. Currently we hold about 2,700 articles and we have about 10 thousand visitors every day.

Adhering to the tradition of Enlightenment, we advocate scientific reliability and scientific methods of research and thinking. We hunt out prejudices, quackery, lies and phobias which are present in almost every walk of life and are often propagated in the mass media as well as in schools and in churches of all denominations.

RACJONALISTA. pl publishes articles and essays from all important fields of human knowledge. Our aim is to have on the Polish Internet a systematic compendium of knowledge devised by rationalists. At present we mostly stress the study of religions, church history, philosophy, civic education, science, history and ethics.

The teaching of the Catholic religion in all schools (and even in kindergartens) is paid for from the state budget. We, of course, do not get any subsidies from anybody; nevertheless, for young people we are a sort of antidote. The rising popularity of RACJONALISTA shows that there is a demand in Poland for rational thinking in spite of the expansion of the Church and of growing clericalism, intolerance and parochialism.

In January 2005 people connected with RACJONALISTA created the Polish Association of Rationalists based in Wroclaw. We are now trying to organise an association of people convinced of the need for joint action in order to promote the growth of individuals and society along rational lines.

The propaganda during the First World War was the most important source to forward it andan effort of whole nation-states, together with money, food and weaponry. With this one previous sentence we could end this short paper treating on the propaganda during La Grande Guerra. But obviously that would steal us more in-depth understanding of the whole complicacy of the process. Because the First World War propaganda was unique. Unique in a sense that never before had been so popularly used and with such success, and never again so far for so long without causing dissent from some group of society.

General enthusiasm of whole nations in the first months after mobilisations and final commence of the First World War is one of these moments in history which has few comparisons to itself. As it can be seen in many publications from that era by prominent and less prominent persons with positions in science, governance and authority, the events of July and August 1914 were rather unequivocally seen as a final relief and a moment of
rejoicing for whole states and societies. It is true that there is not much experience in the social fabric of societies which unify people so broadly as the moment of finding a common enemy and the struggle against outside force or power. But the spirit of those first few months in 1914 is special in every respect. In this short paper I will try to depict the emotions and views of the public among European Powers in conflict which later got the name La Grande Guerra.

Throughout the years the Death with Dignity Act has been debated across the United States, especially in the states where it has not been legalized. Adamant opponents of the law would claim that it is morally wrong for doctors to allow patiens to die prematurely. Additionally, good palliative care might reduce the need of terminally ill patients to use the Death with Dignity Act. As a result, patients might experience mental revelations in their life. Although this kind of logic cannot be denied, it fails to take into consideration all patients' needs and beliefs.

Arab Spring will be looked down upon by historians as a very meaningful event. At an eve of the second decade of 21st century it showed how huge impact the internet era has had on our lives. When five years ago in Tunisia, just a few dozens of people called themselves to protest in few cities (mainly in Tunis tough), it became the so called 'hype' and we all know how fast afterward everything went from there. But in the birthplace of the Arab - so called - 'democratic revolution' in the Middle East it didn't take any deeper roots. Somewhat different road took the biggest demonstrations in Cairo at The Tahrir Square.

On 16 June 2012 two tears passed from ECtHR pronouncing in the case Grzelak v. Poland. In the opinion of our Society, in this period the Polish Government have not taken any true action to implement the ECtHR's decision. Neither students nor their parents are clearly informed about the right to free choice between religious education and ethics lessons. When ethics is chosen, schools do everything to make this choice impossible rather than support it.

The Polish Rationalist Association advocates separation of State and Church. Religious belief or non-belief should be the private matter of each citizen. Combining religion and politics leads inevitably to abuse and threatens to divide citizens against each other. In recent years the Catholic Church has been increasing its influence and public profile. What's worse, politicians seem to be seeking the favour of the Church, rather than considering themselves accountable only to the citizens who have elected them. Polish society however, is mature enough to conduct public discussions about the challenges and problems they face without uninvited "spiritual guidance".

Radzików, a village just west of Warsaw, hosted recently (Oct. 6-8) the First Polish National Conference of Rationalists and Freethinkers organized by the Association of Polish Rationalists (PSR). As Mariusz Agnosiewicz, President of PSR says, it was the first conference of this type in many years, its goal being to integrate Poland's secular movements and to rebuild their organizational structure by attracting unaffiliated freethinkers. "Isolated in a Catholic Country": this is how, in its Oct. 7-8 edition, Trybuna, one of only a few leftist publications in Poland, titled its short article about the Rationalist conference